Yield potential and stress adaptation are not mutually exclusive: wheat as a case study.

Wheat is a primary staple crop worldwide, grown in a wide range of environments, leading to significant yield variation. Improving wheat yield potential and resilience against abiotic and biotic stresses are critical to food security. A perennial debate is to breed for yield potential or for adaptation to specific conditions.

The shibire mutation causes temperature sensitive paralytic and lethal phenotypes in the Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni.

Bactrocera tryoni, the Queensland fruit fly, is among the most damaging insect pests to the Australian horticultural industry as larvae infest ripening fruits or vegetables prior to harvest. Genetic biocontrol using Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) programs have been used to successfully suppress populations, via mass release of factory-reared sterile males that mate with wild females. Bi-sex flies are currently used for releases, although the efficiency of these control programs could be improved through using genetic sexing strains that eliminate females early during development, as they are not required for SIT.

Evaluation of Precision Feeding to Enhance Broiler Growth Performance.

The effects of precision feeding regimes on broiler performance, organ weight, nutrient utilization, carcass yield, and calculated wholesale returns were investigated over 42 days. The treatments consisted of a standard four-phase commercial diet as the control, a precision nutrition blend diet based on a daily nutrient requirement, a precision nutrition adjusted diet based on weekly bird weight, and a standard commercial blend diet. Each dietary treatment was replicated 10 times with 11 birds per replicate.

Challenges in modelling the impact of frost and heat stress on the yield of cool-season annual grain crops.

Frost and heat events at critical growth stages could cause large yield losses. These temperature extremes are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change in many parts of the broadacre cropping regions globally, presenting challenges to food production. For cool-season grain-growing regions, where summers are already too hot, heat and frost risks can limit adaptation options.

Defining Soilborne Pathogen Complexes Provides a New Foundation for the Effective Management of Faba Bean Root Diseases in Ethiopia.

Soilborne diseases cause losses of 45-70% in faba bean in Ethiopia. Studies were undertaken to define soilborne pathogens and their complexes in Ethiopia. First, the severity of root rot was assessed in 150 field sites across seven Ethiopian regions.

Treatment of fruit juices with β-glucosidase for release of aroma precursors.

Β-glucosidase can diversify flavour by releasing aroma precursors from monosaccharide glucosides but is not yet applied in fruit juice processing. Here, we compare β-glucosidase A (BglA) from the extremophile Halothermothrix orenii H168 expressed in Escherichia coli to a commercial product containing β-glucosidase (Rapidase® Revelation Aroma) in enzymatic activity and effect on fruit juice aroma composition (apple, apple-mango, apple-raspberry, grape; identified via SPME GC-MS). While BglA demonstrated a higher tolerance against sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose), Rapidase® demonstrated a higher tolerance against low pH.

Estuarine fish dynamics associated with polychaete reefs and environmental stressors.

Biogenic reefs serve as important habitats for fish, yet reef-building polychaetes and their functional role for associated estuarine fish communities is not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the ecological role of one of the most prominent providers of polychaete reefs, Ficopomatus enigmaticus, in a large temperate estuary in Southern Australia (the Coorong). Fish communities were compared between F.

Embryo Culture Impacts Heart Mitochondria in Male Adolescent Sheep.

Assisted reproductive technology (ART)such as embryo culture (IVC), is widely used in human infertility treatments; however, its long-term effects on the cardiac health of offspring remain unclear. This study aimed to determine whether the effects of IVC on cardiac metabolism and associated signaling pathways persist after birth into adolescence. Embryos were either transferred to an intermediate ewe (ET) or cultured in the absence (IVC) or presence of human serum (IVCHS) with methionine supplementation (IVCHS+M) for 6 days after mating.

Loss of HKT1;5D via a spontaneous terminal deletion elevates leaf sodium in bread wheat, but is independent of yield or salinity tolerance.

Soil salinity is a significant constraint to global wheat production, and breeding for salinity tolerance offers a sustainable solution. MW#293 is a recently developed bread wheat line, notable for both its high salinity tolerance and unusually high leaf sodium (Na⁺) accumulation. However, the association between high Na⁺ accumulation and salinity tolerance in this line was unknown.

Genetic detection and discrimination of closely related oyster pathogens for biosecurity and shellfish stock management.

Disease outbreaks among shellfish cause significant declines in both wild fisheries and aquaculture production globally. In Aotearoa New Zealand, a long history of flat oyster infections by the haplosporidian parasite Bonamia exitiosa has influenced fishery dynamics in the Foveaux Strait. B.

Linking pod-set and seed yield of faba bean across organ, phytomer, plant and population scales.

Pod-set is the conversion of flowers to pods but its connection to crop yield of pulses must traverse scales of biological organisation; here we address scaling from organ to crop in faba bean. Our main hypothesis was that resources drive pod-set and crop yield of faba bean, whereas allocation to pods or between pods plays a minor role. We combined new field experiments and published data to test supporting hypotheses organised in four studies.

Xylanase and stimbiotic supplementation improve broilers performance and nutrient digestibility across both wheat-barley and corn-based diets.

The present study investigated the effects of supplemental xylanase or stimbiotic in male broiler chickens fed either corn- or wheat-barley-based diets. A total of 1,296 Ross 308 day-old chicks were assigned to a 2 × 3 factorial design, evaluating the effects of diet grain source (wheat-barley or corn) and additives (none, xylanase, or stimbiotic). The stimbiotic used in the present study contained xylanase and fermentable xylo-oligosaccharides.

Presenilin 1 hemizygosity has no overt deleterious phenotypic outcomes in sheep: Potential implications for therapeutic targets in Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition and one of the most significant medical challenges today. Dominant mutations causing early-onset AD have been identified in the presenilin 1 and 2 (PSEN1 and PSEN2), and the amyloid precursor protein (APP) genes. Either PSEN1 or PSEN2 is required by γ-secretase, a functional complex that cleaves APP to produce amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides of varying lengths.

Australian Dog Owners' Acceptance of Insect-Based Pet Food.

Insect-based dog food is increasingly becoming available in pet food markets, potentially offering environmental and nutritional benefits, depending on insect species and how they are reared, processed, and utilized. However, there is limited understanding of dog owners' attitudes towards the use of insects as protein alternatives for dogs. An online survey was conducted to explore Australian dog owners' ( = 201) attitudes towards insect-based pet food, segmenting participants according to their food neophobia, previous insect consumption, and dog-human relationship.

Does Melatonin Enhance Twin Lamb Survival in Commercial Merino Flocks in Australia?

In research flocks, supplementing pregnant ewes with melatonin has been shown to be a novel approach to ameliorate parturient neurological damage and improve twin lamb survival. This study investigated the commercial applicability of melatonin supplementation for Merino flocks managed under extensive grazing conditions. Multiparous twin-bearing ewes were implanted with one melatonin implant (18 mg, Regulin) each on two properties in South Australia and one in Western Australia ( = 585) at a median 79 days of gestation, with control ewes not implanted ( = 586).

Assessing the utility of genomic selection to breed for durable Ascochyta blight resistance in chickpea.

Ascochyta blight (AB) is one of the most devastating fungal diseases of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Conventional breeding has focused on exploiting and introgressing major genes (qualitative effect) to improve AB resistance in released varieties.

Location of capture sufficiently characterises lifetime growth trajectories in a highly mobile fish.

Variation in somatic growth plays a critical role in determining an individual's body size and the expression of its life history. Understanding the environmental drivers of growth variation in mobile organisms such as fishes can be challenging because an individual's growth expression integrates processes operating at different spatial and temporal scales. Traditionally, otolith (ear stone) based growth analyses have focussed on temporal environmental variation by assuming an individual spends its whole life at its capture location.

Coupling proteomics and lipidomics for insights into regulation of oat (Avena sativa) grain lipid synthesis.

Breeding is a feasible strategy to develop low-oil oat (Avena sativa) varieties, which aligns with specific processing needs and dietary preferences. To identify factors contributing to a low-oil phenotype, we optimised a sequential extraction workflow for proteomics and lipidomics analyses on five Australian oat varieties with different oil contents. Oat oil content positively correlated with abundances of several proteins in lipid synthesis pathways, suggesting their key lipid regulatory roles.

Otolith and Genomic Data Reveal Temporal Insights Into Stocking Across a Large River Basin in a Mobile, Long-Lived Australian Freshwater Fish Species.

Freshwater ecosystems and their biota are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic stressors. In response to declining fish stocks, hatchery and stocking programmes are widely implemented as core components of restoration and management strategies, with positive outcomes for some wild populations. Despite this, stocking remains contentious due to potential genetic and ecological risks to wild populations.

The bacterial community associated with the solitary resin bee Megachile tosticauda throughout its life cycle.

Unlike in eusocial bees where the identity, acquisition, and function of symbiotic microbes are well understood, little is known about the relationships formed between solitary bees and bacteria. Assessing the potential role of microbes in solitary bee health is important, especially in the face of global bee declines. Early evidence suggests solitary bee microbiomes differ between bee species and development stages, but the reported bacteria are often indistinguishable from environmental taxa.

Proteomic and lipidomic analyses reveal novel molecular insights into oat (Avena sativa L.) lipid regulation and crosstalk with starch synthesis during grain development.

Grain development influences the composition of oat (Avena sativa L.), which impacts the nutritional and processing value of the grains. This study explored the molecular mechanisms underlying oat grain development in two oat varieties - Bannister (10.

Insights from draft genomes of Heterodera species isolated from field soil samples.

Background: The nematode phylum includes many species key to soil food webs with trophic behaviours extending from feeding on microbes to macrofauna and plant roots. Among these, the plant parasitic cyst nematodes retain their eggs in protective cysts prolonging their survival under harsh conditions. These nematodes, including those from the genus Heterodera, cause significant economic losses in agricultural systems.

Functional genomics implicates ebony in the black pupae phenotype of tephritid fruit flies.

The remarkable diversity of insect pigmentation offers a captivating avenue for studying evolution and genetics. In tephritids, understanding the molecular basis of mutant traits is also crucial for applied entomology, enabling the creation of genetic sexing strains through genome editing, thus facilitating sex-sorting before sterile insect releases. Here, we present evidence from classical and modern genetics showing that the black pupae (bp) phenotype in the GUA10 strain of Anastrepha ludens is caused by a large deletion at the ebony locus, removing the gene's entire coding region.

Intestinal barrier function, caecal microbiota and growth performance of thermoneutral or heat stressed broiler chickens fed reduced crude protein diets supplemented with guanidinoacetic acid.

The effectiveness of guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) in reduced protein (RP) diets on performance and gut health of broilers under heat stress is largely unknown. A 35-d experiment was conducted using four dietary treatments: a standard protein diet (SP, 22.1 and 20.

Survey of foodborne pathogenic Vibrio species in commercial Tasmanian bivalve shellfish and predictors of risk at harvest.

There has been an increase in foodborne vibriosis outbreaks globally, with Vibrio parahaemolyticus emerging as a foodborne issue in temperate commercial shellfish growing regions, including southern Australia. The food safety concerns associated with these microorganisms have led to the need for specific guidance on potential risk management strategies for their control. This is the first Australian multi-seasonal survey of V.